Automotive air bag systems include an air bag module mounted within a housing that is concealed beneath a surface of the vehicle interior. In particular, passenger air bag systems may include a chute defined by the housing and extending within the dashboard of the associated vehicle. The chute may be concealed beneath a surface of the dashboard, or instrument panel substrate. In such an arrangement, the outermost layer of the dashboard extends over an opening to the air bag chute and is supported by a door panel that is movably coupled with a portion of the housing, which may include a wall of the chute. The adjacent portion of the dashboard or instrument panel substrate includes a pre-weakened tear line that ruptures upon air bag deployment, allowing the air bag to deploy within the chute, out of the opening thereof, and from out of the dashboard. The door panel provides support for the topper and dashboard substrate and is typically hingedly coupled with the chute so as to rotate during air bag deployment such that the portion of the dashboard substrate over the door opens away from the deploying air bag in a generally predetermined movement.
Previous housings have included a hinge that is integrally formed with both the chute or other adjacent structure and the door panel. Housings having such hinges are often made from a plastic material exhibiting some degree of flexibility such that the hinge may provide the desired opening motion by bending or flexing. Some hinges of this type have been developed to provide the general ability to bend or flex through a desired opening motion of the associated door. However, due to the high levels of pressure with which a typical air bag deploys (which is, in turn, applied to the door and the hinge during deployment), the hinge coupling the door panel to the chute may experience a significant amount of force, which can result in rupture or other undesirable plastic deformation of the hinge or adjacent portions of the housing. Accordingly, improvements to such hinge structures that can provide for reduction in localized stress, particularly at the point of attachment with the chute, are desired.